BillBuster - Smart Receipt & Bill Tracker

Project Description

BillBuster is a Python tool that uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to extract data from scanned bills and receipts. It categorizes spending based on predefined rules and saves the data to a CSV file for easy tracking and analysis, ideal for budgeting or tax purposes.

Key Features

Extracts text from receipt images using Tesseract OCR

Parses the text to identify date and total amount

Categorizes spending based on keywords in the receipt text

Saves extracted data to a CSV file for expense tracking

Real-world Use Cases

Budgeting: Track personal expenses by category (e.g., Food, Transportation) to manage finances.

Tax Preparation: Organize receipt data for deductible expenses, simplifying tax filing.

Automation: Reduce manual data entry by extracting information from physical receipts.

Installation Steps

Install Tesseract OCR

Windows:

Download Tesseract from GitHub

Install it and add the installation directory to your PATH (e.g., C:\Program Files\Tesseract-OCR)

Verify installation: tesseract --version

Linux (Ubuntu):

Run sudo apt-get install tesseract-ocr

macOS:

Install using Homebrew: brew install tesseract

Install Python dependencies

Create a virtual environment (optional): python -m venv venv

Activate the virtual environment:

Linux/macOS: source venv/bin/activate

Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

Install requirements: pip install -r requirements.txt

Clone this repository

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/BillBuster.git

Replace yourusername with your GitHub username

Set up the project

Navigate to the project directory: cd BillBuster

Edit config.py to add or modify categories and keywords as needed

How to Run

Run the main script with the path to a receipt image:

python main.py --image path/to/receipt.jpg

The extracted data (date, total, category, filename) will be appended to expenses.csv in the project directory.

Sample Output

After running the script, expenses.csv will contain rows like:

Date,Total,Category,Filename 2025-05-20,$54.99,Food,receipt1.jpg 2025-05-21,$29.95,Transportation,receipt2.jpg

Notes

Tesseract Setup: Ensure Tesseract is installed and accessible in your system's PATH. Test with tesseract --version.

Image Quality: OCR accuracy depends on clear, high-quality images. Preprocessing (e.g., with OpenCV) could improve results but is not included in this starter project.

Customization: Modify config.py to add categories or keywords for better categorization accuracy.

Limitations: The project uses simple regex for parsing and keyword matching for categorization, which may not handle all receipt formats perfectly. For advanced use, consider enhancing parsing logic or using NLP.

Future Enhancements

Add image preprocessing with OpenCV to improve OCR accuracy.

Support multiple currencies and more date formats.

Include a Streamlit interface for uploading images and viewing results interactively.